Misstreated by this dealer?

as mentioned before in a recent post i made here's a rough letter i'm sending to the dealer that truly did take the Pi**

Dear Sirs

Upon recent viewing of your BMW 330d advertised on Auto trader I chose to purchase the car on Friday 21st July 2006 , provided that certain terms agreed between I and your Sales Executive called Stuart Austin.

 The terms agreed were:
 The car would come with 12 months Tax and MOT
 12 Months RAC gold Warranty
 A full re-spray to the passengers side (left hand side) of the car from the front bumper to the rear bumper
 Removal of various dents on the passengers side

On Arrival to your premises at 1:30pm I was greeted by Stuart Austin.
Before entering your showroom I viewed the car which you were selling me and looked at the paintwork job. This was not complete and the only areas that looked to have been sprayed were the corners of the front and rear bumpers along with the area between the rear wheel arch and rear door.

This paintwork appeared to be uncomplete and commonly whats known in the trade as orange peel.

There is also a large scratch/dent on the bottom corner of the front passengers door which was one of the 1st things agreed to be repaired with Stuart Austin as part of the sale. I was assured personally by Stuart that he would see the paint work was complete to a high standard.

Stuart then proceeded to check over the car with me and agreed that the paintwork was of a poor standard. As a result he showed his Sale Manager (Tim) who agreed but was not happy at the fact I had pointed out it was not done correctly. Stuart and Tim offered to get the car back into the body shop who originally did the repair to rectify it and then deliver the car to me in Worcester at a later date.

I rejected this offer due to the fact it was the second time I had come to view this car and I had taken one days leave from work and travelled approximately 110miles (220mile round trip. For this reason I wanted to take the car with me, as agreed, and have the deal done with. I suggested that I took the BMW to my local body shop who I have used in the past that I could trust to do a professional job and then invoice you, The Car House or for you to deduct £400 from the purchase value of the car.

This offer by me was seen to be understandable and fair by Stuart Austin but he could not authorise it so he asked Your sales manager (Tim). Tim said no to this offer and suggested that he refunded my deposit and we closed the deal. At the time I rejected this offer because I was unhappy and wanted this issue to be resolved in a polite manner with someone who was prepared to talk to me professionally instead of like I was an unvalued customer.

At Approximately 3:00pm Stuart Austin who was controlling the deal left your premises for personal reasons assuring me he would be no longer than 15 minutes and that your sales manager would complete the deal.

After Stuart departed I was left sat at his desk for approximately 45 minutes. As you can imagine I was not happy with having to sit waiting and not know what was happening as I thought your Sales manager was finalising the deal with me. After Stuart left your sales manager walked into his office, fully achknowledging my presence at Stuarts desk. After waiting 45 minutes and watching him walk around your premises a number of times I walked into his office to find him sat eating a sandwich and reading the paper. By this time I was very displeased with the service I was receiving and asked him what was going on. He eventually responded and told me that someone else was going to deal with me.

Another 30 minutes had passed and I asked your secretary and another Sales Executive if they had any knowledge of what was going on. 30 minutes after that your sales manager came and sat with me and we spoke about the deal and started to get it finalised. I asked him if we could remove the personal plates from my car to which he said yes. Tim told me he was going to fetch a screw driver to remove them so he went out of the building and did not return. I walked out to the front of your premises to find him stood chatting to your secretary possibly having a cigarette.

Yet again the above was not how I can imagine a Sales manager of all people should be dealing with a customer.

At approximately 5:15 Tim and I finalised the deal with the help of you other Sales Executive who removed the private plates from my car. Tim handed me a number of documents and asked me to sign them full well knowing that there were still various procedures such as test driving the vehicle and explaining the controls to me.

Once we had handed over the keys to our cars (my car was been part exchanged against the BMW) I got in the car and drove away from the premises still in shock at how I had been treated. As soon as I pulled out onto the main road I noticed the car had no power and was about as powerful as a 1 litre mini. I assumed this may have been down to the fact there was only 10 miles worth of fuel left in the car. I drove to the nearest petrol station and put £20 worth of diesel in hoping that this would solve the issue but it did not. I could not believe that yet again I was encountering another problem so I drove back to your premises and handed the keys back to Tim and asked for my keys and to cancel the deal to which he agreed and said he would get my deposit refunded. He also gave me the receipt for my deposit as proof I had paid it so that I could claim it back.

I am amazed at the way you, The Car House have dealt with this and find it extremely unacceptable that you will not refund my £200 deposit after Tim and Stuart both agreed to it. I have wasted one days leave from work and spent £50 in petrol in my travelling costs along with the £20 of diesel I put in the BMW before I returned it to you.

I understand you have incurred costs to prepare the car but I do not agree my deposit should be retained as a result because the car was not in the condition agreed by me and Stuart at the point I gave him the deposit.

As discussed with you (John) our telephone call with me today, Monday 24th July 2006 at 6:30pm, I do not wish to buy another vehicle from you nor do I want you to fix/repair the BMW to a suitable standard under the idea that I will purchase it from you. This is because I feel that you did not make suitable arrangements to see that the BMW was prepared as we agreed for sale on Friday 21st July 2006.

If you do not wish to refund my deposit I will take legal proceedings out against you for the miss treatment of me as your customer and the reasons above that were not met in our original agreement when I paid you the deposit.

Please respond within 7 days of the letter date so we can resolve this issue without having to both seek further legal advice.

Yours Sincerely

David Gannon

What do people think?

do i have a leg to stand on?

I know its only £200 but its the principle they treated the situation like it didnt matter...

Purerly observational, but I think if it's not written in black and white that you will be refunded your deposit should you or they cancel the deal etc. then I think word of mouth (You, Tim, Stuart etc.) will not get you your deposit back.... unless they are honourable gentlemen - which it doesn't sound like they are... Just My Opinion - but definatley worth progressing (time and effort) but I wouldn't chuck more money at it to progress...

Legal proceedings for having your time wasted will get no where, and they will know that. The only thing you can claim against is the £200 deposit. And only if you have a receipt saying it will be returned if either party pull out.

I'd also mention out of pocket expenses (provide a full breakdown of your costs incurred), level of stress etc etc and succinctly mention how dealerships thrive on word of mouth. Also, if you don't get a satisfactory resolution, i'd definitely threaten going to the local press (preferably one in which they don't advertise if you know what i mean).
I'm sure they'll see sense and refund you as the car they tried to sell you wasn't of a sufficient standard.
By the way, I gather you're writing to the manager of the dealership...? If they're part of a group, I'd also cc the Head Office Managing Director.
Good luck!

paint stripper ina supersoaker water pistol all over the cars on the forecourt late at night? Or a sensible letter might be better, although I wouldnt hold out much hope. I tried with Peugeot for ages before almost giving up the will to live. Self gratification through damage / injury to the other party is much more worthwhile.

If it went to court they would only say that the work that they did carry out to the car that you have mentioned in your letter came to more than £200 and they may try to get more money out of you via the court. If it was me i would go see a solicitor before sending any letters and see what the solicitor says, you normally get 30 mins free, so get enough info possible then write a letter to the barstewards stating what the solicitor said, this will also make them aware that you have been and got legal advice and they may just say f--k it this bloke aint going away give him his money back, i reckon they would offer £150 saying that the extra £50 was deducted for the paint bodge that they done, good luck

If you didn't, why not? Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, you can bring an equal claim against your credit card provider for breach of contract and/or misrepresentation on the part of a merchant.

If you didn't, why not? Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, you can bring an equal claim against your credit card provider for breach of contract and/or misrepresentation on the part of a merchant.

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Yep, Charge it back!

After reading your letter I am shockingly apalled that you have had so many problems with a garage and that a garage can treat a consumer this way, either outcome you get out of this report to trading standards.

ok guys thanks for all the info and help so far, i've called up a solicitor and he recommended that i take it through a local county court after i've sent the letter as the above with a few amendments.

By the way its not a franchised dealer, they are called "The Car House" and are in Newport Pagnell although i believe they have a few garages around the country.

They are RAC approved so i did not know whether or not to give them a call and explain how i was treated...?

JDP1962 - I paid by debit card but i don't quite understand what you mean?

"When you want to buy an affordable used car, you should expect the highest quality of service. At the Car House we would like to offer you peace of mind as well as a high standard of customer care. Every car we sell will be carefully inspected, serviced and come with a comprehensive 12 month warranty. Why not offer us your part-exchange, and deal with people who really care. We will look forward to meeting with you soon. "

JDP1962 - I paid by debit card but i don't quite understand what you mean?

Regards

Dave

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If you use a credit card for a transaction of more than £100, you have certain protection under the aforementioned Consumer Credit Act. In layman's terms, whenever you are in dispute with a retailer, you can bring a claim against the retailer if you entered into the contract in reliance on a misrepresentation (that is, a false statement of fact) by the retailer, or if the retailer is in breach of contract (in other words, has not done what it promised to do).

If you paid by credit card (& a deposit alone is sufficient, provided it's more than £100), Section 75 of the CCA allows you to bring the same claim against your credit card issuer. You don't have to claim against the retailer first, you can complain directly to the credit card issuer.

Unfortunately, this protection does not apply to debit cards.

Anyway, best of luck with the case. You can always use the Small Claims Court.

Other than that, I'd say send away it doesn't matter whether it has any grounding in the law as you say you'll seek further legal advice and this letter may be just what is required to get your money back!

cheers for pointing that out. I did change that slightly before printing out the final copy but it still wasnt quite correct!!lol

I've had a couple of telephone calls with The boss since and he says he will be responding to my letter but won't be refunding the deposit. He said i can use it against another vehicle or just continue with buying the car we originally agreed...

No nothing in writing. i have the deposite reciept but i don't think it stated the vehicle but good point about if they do sell it, although he said if they sell it within 14 days he will refund my deposite.

To those of you who were watching this post, i finally heard from the Director of "The car house" and a chain of other companies which he gets little puppy dogs to run for him, he going to REFUND the £200 due to the fact the customer service was very shabby.

Very good really because trading standards/consumer adivce said it would be a hard battle which would more than likely be pointless...

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